Chapter 7 Sasa's Vanity

Sasa felt that she had encountered a century-long problem. She was in a meeting and had just finished speaking when she received a voice message from her mother. From the text message, it could be seen that her mother was crying. She briefly explained that her father was cheated of money in business and it had been almost two years since he asked for it back, but he still hadn't gotten it back.

When it was the colleague's turn to speak, Sasa took out his cell phone and typed back, "Then you go to the creditor's house and play funeral music."

Mom replied, "I can't let go of that pride. You know your father and I are both respectable people."

Sasa felt that her eyebrows could provide Tianjin with a whole year's supply of fried dough twists.

In fact, Sasa is very good at relieving emotions. She has made a group of enthusiastic friends accurately. These friends can often become the carriers of her emotions. No matter how big the problem is, it can be resolved by talking it out.

But Sasa also has her own difficulties, but she never shows them. If she shows them, she will immediately become Fan Shengmei from Chaoyang District and the family devil from Dawang Road in the eyes of her friends. For Sasa, that is not the personality of an urban beauty. So whenever there is a problem in the family, Sasa will cleverly transform it into another problem to express it.

For example, last time, she told Sun Ziyi that she wanted to jump off the building. In fact, it was because her parents asked her for money again, and they asked for 40,000 yuan. She called Sun Ziyi over crying, and originally wanted to vent, but when the words came to her lips, it turned into a work problem.

She had always wanted to overcome her vanity and become someone who could face her own problems head-on. However, after spending so much time in Beijing, Sasa realized she couldn't overcome her inner scheming and vanity. She would rather others think she was a little girl crying over work than know about her family's situation. After all, those who were given the role of the heroine would be given a layer of pity by others, and she didn't allow others to cast such a gaze on her.

She started out as an intern, then learned feature writing from a journalist. She then jumped from a well-established magazine to a media outlet, and now to a foreign company, where she earns several thousand yuan a piece for an ad and a monthly salary of 40,000 yuan. From the outside, her life seems perfectly settled, so she never reveals her hardships. Some colleagues have asked Sasa, "How can someone like you, who's never experienced hardship, write so profoundly?" Sasa feigns thoughtfulness, saying, "I read and write so much, and I've learned everything!" Then she waits for others to cast envious glances.

Sasa's life was ruined by this kind of greed and vanity. She was trapped in things that were clearly out of her reach and couldn't get out. But it is often like this. The more she can't catch something, the less she knows which way to escape.

The phone rang, and her mother texted again, "Don't tell anyone about this. We are a respectable family, and it would be embarrassing if it gets out." She didn't want to care about it at first, but the next morning, she received a call from a debt collector, who asked her fiercely if she was Chen Su.

Chen Su was Sasa's name. She hung up the phone directly, but received a text message from the other end with Sasa's residence and workplace.

Sasa called back and asked the other party what he wanted.

The other party said that her parents owed him 100,000 yuan and have not paid it back yet.

Sasa replied, usury is illegal, if I call the police you won’t get your principal back.

That time, it's not usury. I just need to repay the normal amount + interest. Your parents don't have the money to pay it back.

Sasa didn't say anything and was still questioning its authenticity.

The other end said, "Ms. Chen, I have no choice but to do this. My daughter needs leukemia surgery and I just need this money from you."

Sasa took a breath and said, "If you don't believe me, ask your parents. My name is Yu Ziming."

After hanging up the phone, Sasa called her mother. On the other end of the phone, her mother was playing mahjong, and the conversation was crackling. Sasa was a little annoyed and asked, "The debt collectors have come to me, and you are still playing mahjong?"

Her mother hung up the phone and called again a few minutes later, this time from outside.

Her mother said, what else can happen if I don’t play mahjong? When I calm down, I think about the mess in our family.

Sasa shouted, if there is a mess, find a way to make money and pay it back.

Her mother shouted even louder, "The job pays 2,000 yuan a month, and the gas cost is less than 1,000 yuan a month to drive there. The money earned is just a drop in the bucket."

Sasa felt like she was having trouble breathing, but she calmed down and said, "Mom, no one would drive a car worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to work. Given our family's situation, we really have to find a way to survive."

Hearing Sasa soften, her mother also said, "There's nothing I can do about it. I'll be unhappy when I work, and if I'm unhappy, I'll get sick. Mom has also considered that it will be a greater burden for you if I get sick."

Sasa's tears came out and she asked, "Didn't you say that someone owed you 200,000 yuan?"

When her mother heard Sasa crying, she said, "Baby, don't cry. Mommy will find a way."

Sasa said, you'd better really think of a way.

Her mother was silent for three seconds, then said in a low voice, "Mom can't ask for it. Mom is a decent person. Otherwise, you should call your dad."

After hanging up the phone, Mr. Yu sent another text message. This time, he was sincere and told Sasa that the child's life was more important. If he really couldn't get the money, he could only go to Sasa's workplace and make a scene.

-

Sasa took the last high-speed train of the day to go home. Her father drove to the station to pick her up alone. She got on the train, thinking that the atmosphere would be very depressing. However, her father looked very happy, as if nothing had happened. He sent a voice message to her mother on WeChat, saying that his daughter was on the train and they could steam crabs.

She said, Dad Yu Ziming, you know him, right?

His father recalled and said that he knew him. He used to do business with me and that guy was quite smart.

Sasa seemed to hesitate for a while before continuing: Dad, he said you owe him one hundred thousand yuan.

His father raised his voice and said, "Why do you care about him? That's my business and I don't want you to interfere."

Sasa said again, but Yu Ziming is going to make trouble at my unit, and if I don’t intervene, I will lose my job.

His father said, "Oh, then let me take care of this matter."

Then I turned my head and said to her, Mom steamed crabs for you to eat. They were just out of the pot when we got home.

Sasa let out an "oh" and couldn't say all the words she had rehearsed on the high-speed train.

After eating crabs, Sasa wanted to have a good chat with her parents, but the two of them made excuses to go out for a walk and did not come back until twelve o'clock.

Yu Ziming sent a message saying that he and Sasa had made an appointment to meet in the inpatient department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of the Medical University. Sasa admitted that the hospital was a depressing place and the lingering smell of disinfectant made it impossible for her to feel relaxed.

Tired from the journey, Sasa fell asleep after sending the message.

She seldom dreams and falls asleep as soon as she touches the pillow, but this time she dreamed of her childhood.

When she was fifteen or sixteen years old, her father made a lot of money in business. She went to attend the wedding banquet of the daughter of her father's subordinate and sat with a table of strangers. Sasa's clothes cost two or three thousand yuan. Her family took the seats of honor. Then no one else spoke. When Sasa reached out to pick up the food, the others put down their chopsticks and let her choose the dishes.

After dinner, her mother took her away first. Her mother's newly bought Mercedes-Benz was parked on the side of the dirt road in the countryside. The owner of the car sent them out and opened the passenger door for Sasa. When Sasa wanted to get in the car, a gust of wind blew. She wanted to vomit because she had eaten too many shrimps, so she ran back to the owner's house to go to the toilet.

The toilet was next to the pigpen. Two people were feeding the pigs with leftovers. As they poured the food out, they said, "Look at Boss Chen. Now that he's rich, what has he done to the little girl? It's disgusting."

Then another person said, "That's right, that's right. Chen Su is so envious that he almost looks up to the sky. When he grows up, he will definitely be a rich man who despises the poor and loves the rich. He might even become a mistress to a rich man."

Sasa just walked past them.

That was back in the 2000s. No one had a shoe wall at home at that time. Sasa had a lot of shoes, so her mother specially set up a room as her shoe room, and stacked all the pairs of shoes on the floor. When Sasa came home, she would lie down on the shoes with her legs spread out. When she was fifteen or sixteen years old, she was not as thin as she is now, and she still had some fat around her waist, so she didn't have back pain. Her mother came back from shopping and saw her sleeping on the floor and wanted to pull her up.

She sat up dazedly and asked, "Mom, do I really look disgusting?"

"You just have a cold face and are not enthusiastic, but your personality is indeed not very likable." Her mother said, using her hands to straighten her deformed shoes.

Sasa said "oh" and put it back into the pile of shoes.

In the dream, the shoes in the small room disappeared one by one until the whole room was empty. Then a wardrobe appeared in the room, followed by a TV cabinet, and finally a bed. On the bed was her, who was thirty years old. She was two sizes thinner than when she was a teenager. The collagen on her face was also decreasing, and her face looked more indifferent.

Sasa is now grown up and has experienced the harshness of society. She always thinks back to the beautiful shoes she wore as a child. She also wants to cry, but at the age of thirty, wouldn’t it be even more shabby to cry for the glory of her teenage years?

The next day, Sasa drove her mother's Mercedes-Benz straight to the hospital and arrived half an hour early.

Mr. Yu looked to be around forty years old. He was walking towards us from the other end of the corridor, holding a thermos cup. He was tall and thin, with his head slightly lowered, but one could still see the sad expression on his face.

Sasa came forward, and when he saw Sasa, he looked up and down at her outfit, then took a breath, wrinkled his nose, and asked, "Are you Miss Chen Su?"

Sasa nodded and said, "Let me talk to you."

Mr. Yu didn't respond, just nodded and walked towards the ward.

-

In the ward, a little girl with a shaved head stared with big eyes and called out "Dad" as soon as she saw Mr. Yu.

Mr. Yu uttered a sigh, walked over to open the thermos box, scooped out the corn and pork ribs soup inside, blew it cool bit by bit, and fed it to the little girl.

The eight-person ward was a mixed crowd, with all kinds of people there. There was a shirtless man from Northeast China with his tattoos showing, and an old lady with white hair looking at her. Everyone seemed to have nothing to do and were all looking at Sasa's fresh face.

Sasa stood beside the little girl's bed and vaguely felt someone pulling her sleeve. She turned her head and found it was an old man. The old man couldn't move and pointed in the direction of the door. Sasa looked over and saw a fruit basket there.

She walked over quickly, pulled out a banana and wanted to hand it to him, but the old man turned away and ignored her.

The people in the ward are so strange. Sasa was still waiting for Mr. Yu to finish feeding her, but after he finished feeding her the soup, he moved the cabinets and tidied the quilts. It was endless.

Mr. Yu, Sasa couldn't help but speak, I have something to do in the afternoon.

Mr. Yu paused tucking the quilt and looked up at her. "Can't you see I'm taking care of the child? I told you to come at 2:30, but you insisted on coming at 2:00."

Sasa raised her voice and said, "I'm here to talk to you sincerely. Do you have any attitude towards communication?"

A young man who was sleeping in the ward shouted, "Are you done yet? Do you know that some people are taking a nap?"

Sasa held her breath and whispered to Mr. Yu, "I've seen the situation too. I'll wait for you at the supermarket downstairs at 2:30."

Half an hour later, Yu Ziming found the supermarket. He looked at Sasa's bag and outfit and pleaded with her, "Ms. Chen, you look like someone with a lot of money. I'm an outsider who came to this city to make money. Could you please be kind and return the money to us?"

Sasa awkwardly moved the bag behind her and said, "I'm just a worker. That's the money my parents owe me."

Yu Ziming said, "Even before your father and I fell out, I heard that his daughter was very capable and was going to settle down in Beijing and buy a house there."

Sasa started cursing in her heart, then said, "That's not true. The housing prices in Beijing are beyond the reach of ordinary people like us."

Yu Ziming continued, "Ms. Chen, your father and I have saved this money for several years. If it weren't for my daughter's leukemia, I wouldn't have bothered you with it."

Sasa asked again, "Where are you from my workplace?"

Yu Ziming said, "Your father showed me your circle of friends before, showing me your glamorous and beautiful appearance, and I saw the positioning of your circle of friends."